Earlier this year, I shared a post on why software craftsmanship matters in WordPress development. It stemmed from a Twitter conversation that I had with Dave Donaldson at Max Foundry.

In the comments of that particular post, Dave also followed up with this comment:

Just to be clear, my issue with the term “software craftsman” is that it’s taken on an elitist connotation by many people, and that bothers me. It also bothers me that there is some correlation between people who spout “software craftsmanship” but don’t actually ship anything.

I try not to spin my wheels on topics that I’ve already discussed in-depth, but I recently stumbled across another post by Uncle Bob Martin – arguably the biggest proponent of the software craftsmanship movement – on the 8th Light blog that brought up the same concerns that Dave mention.

Specifically, it discussed the “elitist connotation [demonstrated] by many people.” Call me naive but I’ve simply been missing out on the drama that’s been going on surrounding this entire “software craftsman” thing.

For me, it’s always been about the manifesto, and the ability to make sure that I – as a developer – am doing the best job that I can to build good things for others and for myself.

It’s also a matter of making sure that I’m actively trying to learn from others as well as evangelizing my own practices to others not because I think that I’ve got it figured out, but simply to give back to the developer community.

But apparently, there’s more going on.

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